2023 is predicted to be a good year in Ecuador for trade deals. It has already closed with South Korea, Costa Rica and China, and now negotiations will begin Canada, Dominican Republic and Panama, according to data from the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries.

The current commercial openness of the country is 43%, and with these three concluded agreements it will reach 60%.

Negotiations with Canada should begin between May and June; and between June and July with the Dominican Republic and Panama. The goal is to conclude six contracts in the next two years, and thus 80 percent of the store will already have a commercial opening.

Trade agreement: Ecuador announces the technical end of negotiations with South Korea

According to the product portfolio, Ecuador’s exports to Canada increased by 22% annually for the last five years. Placing the North American country among the top 20 export destinations in the non-oil country.

Likewise, from 2017 to 2021, Canada was the top foreign investor in Ecuador, with foreign direct investment (FDI) of $739.4 million.

During the last week of April, Canadian Ambassador to Ecuador, Stephen Potter, met with him The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Gustavo Manrique, and other officials, and at that meeting, the North American state reiterated “its commitment to strengthening bilateral relations”, as well as “interest in working on investments in the energy sector”, according to the announcement of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As part of strengthening relations with Canada, in December last year Ecuador also opened its business office in Ottawa. “We are very pleased to have begun negotiations for a trade agreement that represents great potential not only for our exporters, due to the Canadian market’s preference for high-quality products, but also for attracting new investment,” he said. Daniel Legarda, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, during a ceremony attended by Rob Stewart, Canada’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Carlos Játiva, Ecuador’s Ambassador to Canada.

Agreements reached

The most recent agreement reached by Ecuador was with South Korea, a country with which technical closure of the Economic Association Agreement negotiations was achieved, which according to the Productive Portfolio will provide preferential access for 95% of non-oil related exports. that market.

While in March an agreement was signed with Costa Rica, where President Guillermo Lasso traveled to a meeting with his colleague Rodrigo Chávez. An Association Agreement was signed with this Central American country, which will enable broad preferential access to export products. This would cover approximately 97% of the supply, 84% with a 0% tariff from the first day of validity. The Ministry of Production promotes the possibilities of this market through education, and last Friday spent a webinar on how to do business with Costa Rica.

Guillermo Lasso travels to Costa Rica, according to the trade agreement, on the day the report on the Encuentro case will be discussed

In December 2022, Ecuador and China concluded a trade agreement, which provides preferential access for 99% of Ecuadorian exports to that country on the Asian continent, in which agricultural and agro-industrial products stand out.

The opening of this market is also happening on other fronts, and in April the process of obtaining a sanitary permit for yellow pitahaya was completed, and thus Ecuadorian companies registered in Chinese customs started exporting this product a few weeks ago.